The Genealogy Roots Blog is for finding online genealogy databases, records and resources. The focus is on vital records (birth, marriage, divorce & death records), obituaries, census records, naturalization records, military records and ship passenger lists. The Genealogy Roots Blog is based in the USA, but online European, Canadian, and other records sources are sometimes included. Mixed in with all this you will occasionally find a fun post or genealogy news.

Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Death Records 1906-1915 from FamilySearch Labs (will eventually cover 1841-1915; includes scanned images of the death registers and certificates)
- Middlesex County: St. Patrick Cemetery Burials (Lowell, Massachusetts)
- Worcester County: Town of Rutland Death Records to the end of the year 1849 (also includes birth and marriage records)

Tennessee
- Blount County Death Records Database (includes more than 42,000 entries from Blount County newspapers and funeral home records)
- Davidson County: Death Notices in Nashville Newspapers 1855-1907 (not complete)

North Carolina - North Carolina Deaths 1906-1930 from FamilySearch Labs (includes digitized images of the death records) - Wake County: North Carolina Family Records Online (includes "Marriage and Death Notices from the Raleigh Register and North Carolina State Gazette: 1799-1893" and 220 family Bible records)

Monday, June 01, 2009

Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, the last survivor of the Titanic sinking, died on May 31 at age 97. She was nine weeks old when her family boarded the Titanic in 1912. Her mother and brother also survived the sinking. Her father died in the tragedy. You can read more here: Millvina Dean, last remaining survivor of the Titanic, dies aged 97

The above image is a portion of the Carpathia passenger list showing the three surviving members of the Dean family, siblings Bertram and Elizabeth (two-month-old Eliza) and their mother Georgette (Ettie). The Carpathia rescued 705 of the Titanic's survivors and brought them to New York on April 18, 1912. See: Partial List of Survivors of the Titanic who were taken aboard the Carpathia at the U.S. National Archives website.

James Cameron, director of the popular film, Titanic, along with two of the film's stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, donated money to help pay Millvina Dean's nursing home costs in her last days.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Here are some suggestions for finding your immigrant ancestors on a ship passenger list (or manifest) for their arrival in the United States from 1820 to the 1940s (1950s for some ports).

Search Tips

Clues in the Census: the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 US federal censuses have a column for year of arrival for immigrants. This can help narrow down the search. Be careful as census records may contain errors.

Naturalization Records: Naturalization records created September 27, 1906 and later will usually give the name of the ship, port and date of arrival. Naturalization records before that usually do not give this information (although some might). You may sometimes find errors in these records.

Be sure to try alternate spellings of names when searching online databases or other indexes.

Ancestry.com's Immigration Records Collection
Ancestry has digitized and indexed microfilm of National Archives passenger records for the major ports (New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans) as well as many smaller ports. These can be searched online if you have an Ancestry subscription (fee required). This can be a good place to start your search because they have so many records in one place. And you don't need to know the name of the port where your ancestor arrived, or the date of arrival.

New York Indexes and the Ellis Island Database...
The largest port where immgrants arrived in the U.S. is New York. Most people with European immigrant ancestors will probably want to search New York arrivals first, unless they know their immigrant ancestor arrived elsewhere. Here are some tools and articles which may be helpful for finding New York passenger arrivals:

New Orleans...
If your immigrant ancestor settled in St. Louis, Missouri or along the Mississippi river (especially prior to the Civil War), he or she may have landed at New Orleans and taken a riverboat up the Mississippi.

Indexes for Various Ethnic Groups: Germans to America, Italians to America, Irish Immigrants, etc.
Some ship passenger indexes have been created for various ethnic groups and these may be helpful as alternate resources if you can't find your immigrant ancestor in other indexes.

Passenger Lists and Indexes on Microfilm
Although many of the National Archives publications of ship passenger lists have been digitized and put online, you may still want to use these microfilms in your search. A little old school genealogy can sometimes go a long way...

Spanish American War
- Kansas Troops in the Volunteer Service of the United States in the Spanish and Philippine Wars

World War One
- Denver Public Library World War I Indexes (includes: Fallen Heroes of World War I from Denver, Colorado; Colorado World War I Draft Registration Cards Index; Colorado World War I Draft Registration Index - Minorities; Colorado World War I Casualties Buried in Europe)
- Oregon WWI Draft Registration Index
- International WWI Section, Australia: World War I Service Records
- International WWI Section, New Zealand: New Zealand and World War One Assorted Indexes

World War Two
- Iowa: World War II Iowa Press Clippings Digital Collection
- Ohio: Cleveland Servicemen's Photographs Index 1940-1955
- International WWII Section, Canada: Second World War Service Files Canadian Armed Forces War Dead

Korean War
- Korean War/Access to Archival Databases (AAD) includes Korean War casualties, wounded, prisoners of war and missing in action

Vietnam War
- Vietnam War/Access to Archival Databases (AAD) includes Vietnam War casualties, wounded, prisoners of war, missing in action, and more items

New York
- Chautauqua County Cemeteries (also has some church death and burial transcriptions)
- Western New York Genealogy Indexes from the Painted Hills Genealogy Society (includes cemetery burials and other indexes for Allegany County, Cattaraugus County, Chautauqua County and Steuben County)
- Northern New York Historical Newspapers (for Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, and Saint Lawrence Counties)
- For more historical NY newspapers see the New York section at: Historical Newspapers and Indexes on the Internet - USA

Pennsylvania
- Assorted Pennsylvania Cemeteries/WebCemeteries (a collection of mostly small cemeteries in PA; includes a genealogy search)
- McKean County Cemeteries
- Philadelphia County Cemeteries (USGenWeb Archives)
- Potter County Cemeteries
- York County Death Indexes and Genealogy Indexes (update: new URL and new indexes added)

German Genealogy Records at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City
I usually start a German genealogy research project by checking the FamilySearch Catalog to see if they have any digitized microfilm records for the place where my German ancestor lived. Doing a "Place Search" in their online catalog for the name of the town can tell you whether they have digitized microfilmed records for that town. You may also want to search for the broader region or for nearby towns.

Be aware that other German towns across Germany may have the same or similar names as the town you're looking for. To help find the correct location you might try checking German maps or German gazetteers.

Church records are often used for doing genealogy research in Germany so it is helpful to know your ancestor's religious affiliation. If your ancestral family's place of residence doesn't have a church they may have gone to one in a nearby town.

German Genealogy Records in Germany (if not available from FamilySearch)
If FamilySearch doesn't have the records you need, then you can try writing letters or emails to local parishes, civil or religious archives, or civil registration offices in Germany. The book, Ancestors in German Archives: A Guide to Family History Sources, can be a helpful reference (try your local library). Some German archives have websites. Many of these are listed in the book, or you might try a Google search for the name of the archive you need. This directory may also be helpful: Deutsche ArchivPortal

The Germany Letter Writing Guide from the FHL may be helpful for writing to German parishes and archives. There will usually be fees for any research requests you have (even if records are not found). In some cases, you may want to hire a local researcher in Germany, especially if you need extensive research done.

Is Anything Online? - German Genealogy Records on the Internet
Some indexes to German genealogy records are available online. Here's a handy starting point: Online German Genealogy Indexes and Databases. You might also try Google searches for the German town or parish.

Disclaimer: you may not be able find records for your German ancestor using this guide. These are merely suggestions.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Here are some suggestions where you might find the German place of origin (city, town, or village) for your immigrant ancestor who came to America from Germany. Knowing the name of the town can help you take your genealogy research back to Germany to look for German genealogy records.

Ship Passenger Records (arrivals)

"Last residence" (name of town) for each passenger is usually given on U.S. passenger arrival records starting about 1893 (this varies by port). All New York passenger arrival records starting with June 1897 and later should have this information for each passenger. Earlier passenger records (beginning with 1820) sometimes list the town of residence for the passengers, but most do not.

The Hamburg Passenger Departure Lists 1850-1934
If your ancestor's ship departed from the German port of Hamburg then you may be able to find the departure list for that ship. These records usually give the last residence for each passenger.